Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


Evolution and the soul

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.9.39, Purport:

The conditioned souls rotating in the evolutionary cycle from the aquatics up to the form of Brahmā are all in the form of māyā, or the form obtained by one's own actions and awarded by material nature. The material forms of the conditioned souls are all foreign dresses, and when the conditioned soul becomes liberated from the clutches of material energy, he attains his original form.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.7.49, Purport:

The living entity is unborn. It is not that he is manifest with the creation of the material body. On the other hand, it is true that the material body develops only by the desire of the living entity. The evolution of the material body is due to the desires of the living being. According to the desires of the living being, the material body develops. So from the spirit soul the material body comes into existence, generated from the living force.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.7.44, Purport:

The human form of life is called arthada because the body can very nicely help the embodied soul to achieve the highest perfection. Prahlāda Mahārāja said that even though temporary, the body can give us the highest perfectional achievement. In the process of evolution from the lower to the higher grade of living, the human form of life is a great boon. But māyā is so strong that in spite of achieving this great boon of the human form of life, we are influenced by temporary material happiness, and we forget our goal of life.

SB 4.11.17, Purport:

In Bhagavad-gītā it is also said that the Lord impregnates the material energy with the part-and-parcel jīvas, and thus the different forms and different activities immediately ensue. Because of the different desires and karmic activities of the jīva soul, different types of bodies in different species are produced. In Darwin's theory there is no acceptance of the living entity as spirit soul, and therefore his explanation of evolution is incomplete.

SB 4.26.8, Purport:

Foolish persons do not know that the soul is passing through 8,400,000 spieces of life. By the gradual process of evolution, when one comes to the human form of life, he is supposed to follow the rules and regulations laid down in the Vedas.

SB 4.29.60, Purport:

The materialistic philosopher Darwin has tried to study the changes of the gross body, but because he had no knowledge of either the subtle body or the soul, he could not clearly explain how the evolutionary process is going on. One may change the gross body, but he works in the subtle body. People cannot understand the activities of the subtle body, and consequently they are bewildered as to how the actions of one gross body affect another gross body.

SB 4.29.1a, SB 4.29.2a, SB 4.29.1a-2a:

A desire to maintain body, wife and children is also observed in animal society. The animals have full intelligence to manage such affairs. If a human being is simply advanced in this respect, what is the difference between him and an animal? One should be very careful to understand that this human life is attained after many, many births in the evolutionary process. A learned man who gives up the bodily conception of life, both gross and subtle, will, by the enlightenment of spiritual knowledge, become a prominent individual spirit soul, as the Supreme Lord is also.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.14.31, Purport:

The word grāmya-karmaṇā indicates activities meant only for the improvement of bodily comforts, presently all human society is engaged in improving economic conditions and bodily comforts, people are not interested in knowing what is going to happen after death, nor do they believe in the transmigration of the soul. When one scientifically studies the evolutionary theory, one can understand that human life is a junction where one may take the path of promotion or degradation. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.25):

yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām

"Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me."

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.3:

The grossly materialistic demons are so completely bereft of spiritual knowledge that although at every moment they perceive the transience of the material body, all their activities center on the body. They are unable to understand that the soul within the body is the permanent and essential substance and that the body is mutable and temporary. Becoming first enamoured of then deluded by vivartavāda (the theory of evolution), they conclude that the entire cosmic body also lacks a Soul. Since the fallacious theory they apply to their own physical existence leads them to reject any research into the existence of a soul residing within the body, they fail to perceive the presence of the Supersoul within the gigantic body of the cosmic manifestation.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.1:

Since time immemorial, living entities have been going through many lower species of life, gradually rising through the evolutionary process and, due to some good fortune, receiving a human birth. In the lower species of life the spirit souls are densely covered by the material modes, and thus carnal appetites dominate their lives. Among the human species, some denounce sensual pleasures and are honored by the world as a saints, yogīs, philosophers, scholars, and so on. They experience mental perceptions far superior to gross sensual experiences, and may reach even subtler levels of fine intellect. But even more subtle than the intellect is the spirit soul. So true spirituality, or the real religion of the living entity, means to be situated in self.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 3, Purport:

Intelligent human beings must always remember that the soul obtains a human form after an evolution of many millions of years in the cycle of transmigration. The material world is sometimes compared to an ocean, and the human body is compared to a solid boat designed especially to cross this ocean. The Vedic scriptures and the ācāryas, or saintly teachers, are compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the human body are compared to favorable breezes that help the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination. If, with all these facilities, a human being does not fully utilize his life for self-realization, he must be considered ātma-hā, a killer of the soul. Śrī Īśopaniṣad warns in clear terms that the killer of the soul is destined to enter into the darkest region of ignorance to suffer perpetually.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

So long we are within this body, material body, that is our conditional life. We live under certain conditions. But actually, we are spirit soul, we are part and parcel of God. As soon as we are free from this conditional life, that is our real, actual life. That is called liberated life. The human form of life is meant for getting this liberation. So long one does not get this human form of life by the evolutionary process... There is evolution, from aquatic to birds and beast and then... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. First aquatic life, then plant life, tree life, then insect life, then bird's life, then beast life, then human life, then civilized human life. So this is the process of evolution.

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

Now, we are supposed to be civilized human being. This life is especially meant for how to get out of this evolutionary process, how to get out of this evolutionary process. The evolutionary process means transmigration of the soul from one body to another. We do not wish to die, but we have to accept death. This is our conditional stage of life. I do not wish to take birth; still, I am forced to go into the womb of my mother by the laws of nature. After giving up one body I enter another body. And there is no security what kind of body I shall get next. It may be human body, it may be animal, it may be trees or it may be better than human being, because there are three divisions. One division is called demigod, and one division is called the human being. The other division is called lower than the human being.

Lecture on BG 2.26-27 -- London, August 29, 1973:

Atheist means one who does not believe in the soul and God. These are correlative terms. If you understand what is soul, then you can understand what is God. If you understand what is God, then you can understand what is soul. But those who are agnostic, atheist, they neither believe in God nor in the soul. So combination of matter... Here Kṛṣṇa says in a different way, that combination of matter is taking place and again it is being dismantled. That is going on. Either there is soul or not soul, just like Darwin's theory, evolution of material body. So that is going on. One body is created and the same body again annihilated, another body created, another body, the same body annihilated, and it is going on.

Lecture on BG 4.10 Festival at Maison de Faubourg -- Geneva, May 31, 1974:

Death means to leave this body and carried by the subtle body to another gross body. That is called death. We are carried by the mind, intelligence and ego, subtle body. Just like we can experience a good scent of rose flower is carried by the air. We cannot see, but we know that the flavor is being carried by the air. Similarly, although we do not see how the spirit soul is being carried by the subtle body, but it is being carried, and it is being put into the womb of another mother to develop another gross body. So this body is offered by nature. This body is given by the material nature. Similarly, we, or I, the spirit soul, being carried by the subtle body, and the nature is giving me another gross body. In this way we are transmigrating from one body to another. This is called evolution. And there are 8,400,000's of bodies, and we are going through one after another.

Lecture on BG 10.4-5 -- New York, January 4, 1967:

The Aryan means one who gives importance to the spiritual side of life. And what is that importance? The spiritual side importance-giving means one has to see how much important this human life is. Because in the human form of life the spirit soul, although it is conditioned by material, I mean to say, encagement, it has developed its consciousness by gradual evolution. This evolution theory is there in the Padma-Purāṇa. There is actually evolution from lower status of life beginning from the aquatics, small, then plant life, then germs' life, then birds' life, then beast life, then human form of life, then civilized human form of life. So fortunately we have got now civilized form of life.

Lecture on BG 10.4-5 -- New York, January 4, 1967:

The Aryan family means they are civilized form of life. But we are utilizing in the matter of maintaining this body. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. We are utilizing this material, this developed body. The spirit soul has got the chance now to liberate himself. There is a process. By nature's way, the evolution is to give chance the spirit to get out of this material entanglement. So people are not giving importance.

Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972:

So one has to purify his existentional life; otherwise, if he does not purify his existence, then he has to transmigrate from one body to another, and that is material existence. That is material existence. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. One has to transmigrate from lower species of life, aquatic life, to trees; from trees to insect; insect to birds; birds to beasts; and from beasts, that is evolution. That evolution is not Darwin's evolution. That evolution, it is called janmānta vāda. The soul is going from one body to another, not that the body is transforming. The Darwin's theory is that the body is transforming. No. Body cannot transform. Body can take the shape according to the desire of the soul, or according to the effects, resultant action, of one's karma. The different types of bodies are all there.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.1 -- New Vrindaban, September 1, 1972:

Guest: What is evolution, according to the Vedas? What is this evolution that is talked about by the scientists?

Prabhupāda: Evolution means changing of different bodies. The spirit soul is changing from one body to another, and finally he's coming in the human form of body. This is a chance to know the actual position. And if he takes this chance, he can go back home to, back to Godhead. Otherwise, he is again put into the cycle of birth and death in different species of life.

Lecture on SB 1.2.15 -- Los Angeles, August 18, 1972:

By the karma-bandhana, we are transmigrating from one soul, one body to another. This is not Darwin's theory. I am the soul. I am changing, I am selecting my body, in this life. Not that by nature there is a, I mean to say, gradual evolution. Not evolution, it is already there. This living entity simply enters a particular type of body. Actually, it enters, because... Suppose I am doing something, my next life has to become a dog, that is my punishment. Then I'll have to enter into the womb of a dog mother, and she will give me the body of dog. Then I come out and enjoy like dog. This is the law. This is the law. Not that my body is turning.

Lecture on SB 1.2.31 -- Vrndavana, November 10, 1972:

Now, this material creation is possible when the Supreme Spirit enters into it. This is a problem to the modern scientist, how creation was possible. They cannot understand that without spiritual touch, there cannot be any creation. That is their poor fund of knowledge. The Darwin's theory, development, process of evolution, they are childish. They are concentrating on the matter: matter is evolving. Matter does not evolve; matter is dead. It is due to the presence of the spirit soul it evolves. That they do not understand, although actually we are seeing.

Lecture on SB 1.15.40 -- Los Angeles, December 18, 1973:

Darwin's theory is a failure because he cannot explain that why there are different types of... Even in human society, every man is different from the other man. Why? If it is nature's process, then all the bodies should have been equally the same. But why different? Just like in an apple tree the formation of apple is the same. So if it is nature's evolution, then why there are white men, black men, colored men, deformed men and...? No one's face will be equal to anyone. That he cannot explain. This is the explanation, that... Just the same example, just a man, as he pays for it, he gets a different apartment. So we have got different bodies, different apartments, according to our karma. And whose karma? The soul's karma. But he has no information of the soul or how the soul is working, how he is getting a different body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This science is unknown to him, but still, he is known as the master of evolution, and people are following him. This is ignorance.

Lecture on SB 1.16.22 -- Hawaii, January 18, 1974:

Ātmānam means the soul. Soul, they're thinking that it is a product of this matter, by evolution, or so on. So many nonsense theories they have, all rascaldom. There is no evolution. Evolution is there in the matter of consciousness. Just like a child. His consciousness is not developed. A child goes to capture a fire because his consciousness is not developed. But that does not mean the child has no consciousness or the child has no soul. Just like some rascal says, "The animals, they have no soul." So why the animals have no soul? Their consciousness is not developed, but soul is there. If the animal has no soul, then the child has also no soul because the child behaves like an animal. In the family, a small child and a dog, they're behaving similarly, and therefore dog is also considered as one of the family members, children, because his consciousness is not developed.

Lecture on SB 3.26.19 -- Bombay, December 28, 1974:

So the modern theory that life is made possible by chemical evolution is not correct. Or the Darwin's Theory, evolution of matter. No. The... They are missing the soul. That is their mistake. They are simply observing the material cover. That is the basic mistake of modern civilization. They have no information that within the body there is the spirit soul. That is the basic principle of material development. Matter is coming out of spirit, not that spirit is coming out of matter. They think by combination of matter there is a stage when living symptoms are visible. That is not the fact. The fact is that spirit soul is there, and therefore matter is developing.

Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

So the atheist class of men, because they cannot understand that there is soul, they cannot understand that evolution means evolution of consciousness. They do not understand. They are thinking that the, originally in the matter there was no life. and all of a sudden the life came. No. Life is completely different from the matter. Not completely different; it is the same energy from the Supreme Lord. One is developed, the other is not developed. In this way, as Brahmā has defined, mat-paro ahaṁ dvija-deva-devaḥ. So in this way, within this material world there are varieties of developed consciousness, and in the spiritual world, when we surpass, transcend the material world, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo anya (BG 8.20), when we are promoted to the other energy, other world, then our consciousness...

Lecture on SB 6.1.3 -- Melbourne, May 22, 1975:

So, we were discussing last night about nivṛtti-mārga, the opposite direction of progressing towards hellish condition of life, that by nature's own way the living entity comes to the human form of body by the evolutionary process. That we have already discussed. There are 900,000's forms in the water. Then there are two millions forms of trees, plants. And jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Then insects, moths and flies, like that, they are 1,100,000 forms. Then birds, one millions forms. Then beast three million forms. And then human being, civilized or not civilized, there are 400,000. This is the total number of different forms of life. The living entity, spirit soul, is the same, but they are passing through different forms of life. Just like I am the same man. I have passed through my babyhood body, my childhood body, my youthhood body. Now I have come to another body. So it is a fact that I was staying in a baby's body. Now it is another body. A very simple thing, that we are changing body, but I am, the soul, the same. We have to understand this thing. The evolution is going on.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- San Francisco, March 3, 1967:

You are calculating that when you'll get old, at that time you shall try to understand what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But what is the guarantee that you are not already old enough? Who can say? The next moment I can die. Old age means nearing death, but there is no such guarantee that one shall die at eighty years old or hundred years old. Death can take place at any moment. Therefore a sane man will understand that we are always old enough because there is no guarantee. Durlabhaṁ. And this mānuṣaṁ janma, this human form of life is called durlabha. Durlabha means very rarely obtained, after many, many evolutionary process, either you take the anthropologists' theory how human body has developed or you take from Vedic literature. But the difference is that anthropologists, they say, "There is no soul. The organic matter is developing in different ways." But Vedic literature says it is not the organic matter, but it is the soul. The soul is a person, is individual, and he is transforming different types of bodies from one body to another, transmigrating. This we have explained several times.

Lecture on SB 10.22.35 -- Bombay, March 19, 1971:

Etāvaj janma-sāphalyam. In order to make our life successful, dehinām iha dehiṣu. There are many embodied souls, 8,400,000 of species of life. Out of that, this civilized form of life, especially those who are followers of Vedic regulations, they are called the Aryans or the advanced civilized persons. So, it is obtained after many, many evolutionary process. Bahunam janmanam ante (BG 7.19). Labdhvā sudur... Sudurlabhaṁ idam bahūnāṁ janmanām ante. So dehinām iha dehiṣu, of all the embodied souls, this embodied soul, this human form of life is meant for liberation.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 32 -- New York, July 26, 1971:

Now bring any biologist to calculate how many species are there in the water. They cannot say. But here, in the Padma Purāṇa, Vedic literature, you get exact information how many species of living entities are there within the water. Everyone knows that there are living entities, full of living entities. We are catching fish, but small fishes. We have not seen. Even if we have seen the biggest fish, that is, whale... Sometimes they are as big as one big ship. But there are other fishes, we get information, they are called timiṅgila. The big fish, the whale fish, and timiṅgila means there is another big fish which swallows this timiṅgila, this whale just like anything. These informations are there. And in Calcutta Museum, in our childhood—it may be still existing—we saw one skeleton of a fish that is bigger than this room, a skeleton. It is hanging on the ceiling. So there are very, very big, big fishes. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. You get immediately information, without being a biologist, scientist, you can get information. The Darwin's theory, in most perfection, there is in the Padma Purāṇa: jīva-jatiṣu. The evolutionary theory is there. But Darwin is missing the real point: Who is, who is evolving? He's missing the spirit soul. He cannot explain. That is imperfect.

Festival Lectures

Lecture-Day after Sri Gaura-Purnima -- Hawaii, March 5, 1969:

Buddha philosophy means that this whole existence of our body or our self is the combination of matter. That is the way of thinking of modern scientists also, that this body is a combination of matter. Under Darwin's theory also, like that, "organic matter, inorganic matter." They are studying evolution of this matter, organic matter. But actually that is not the fact. The fact is that use, individual soul, that is the real fact. And that individual soul is the seed, and upon that seed, this body has developed. According to our Vedic understanding, the body develops on the seed. This is very practical. Why we have got different bodies, different types of bodies? Because the condition of the seed is different. The seed is the spirit soul, and by material contact it is covered by finer body, intelligence, mind, and ego. And according to the quality of that ego, we develop different kinds of this material gross body.

Sri Vyasa-puja -- Hyderabad, August 19, 1976:

Vedic culture is to conquer over the next birth, that's all. But they do not believe in the next birth. Ninety-nine percent people, they have gone so down from the Vedic culture. The Bhagavad-gītā also the same philosophy is there. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). This is Vedic culture. Vedic culture means by the evolutionary process we come to this human form of life. Here is the chance of stopping transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:

So actually we are in a very precarious condition, the modern civilization, I mean to say, manipulated by the Western people. It is a soul-killing civilization, this civilization. By nature the chance is given after many, many evolutionary process. Jalajā nava lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣā viṁśati. The evolutionary theory is there in the Padma Purāṇa. It is not Darwin's theory. Darwin stolen it from Padma Purāṇa, and he presented in a distorted way of his own imagination. Otherwise the Darwin's theory is not the original. The theory... It is not theory-fact. Jīva-jātiṣu. It is wandering within the cycle of jīva-jāti, different species of life. Tathā dehāntara prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). This is Vedic knowledge, this evolutionary process. It is not Darwin's theory.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Address -- Mauritius, October 1, 1975:

If you analyze this body, what is the ingredient? You will some blood, some veins, some bones, some skin, and some urine, some stool and some secretion. So they are available. So why don't you take all these ingredients and create another soul? They are available anywhere. But that is not possible. The big, big chemist, big, big scientists, they are trying to create living entities. Their theory is: "By chemical evolution there is living symptoms." But it is not possible. The soul is different from these material elements. Soul is different from the material elements. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find the... First of all, material elements, they have been described, Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, bhinnā me prakṛti aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jaga.... Jīva-bhūta (BG 7.5), the living entity, is completely different from this matter.

General Lectures

Lecture -- San Francisco, April 2, 1968:

According to Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is transmigrating from one body to another, but the soul is eternal and permanent. And there are evolutionary process also. There are nine million species of life in the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the trees and plants are two million. Similarly, there are reptiles, birds, then beasts, three million beast life, beastly life. Then at the end, we come to the form of this human being, and there are four hundred thousand species of different kinds of bodies. Just like your body in America and our body in India, there is some difference. Similarly, there are four hundred thousands of human form of life. So this is the process of evolution. And these bodily changes are taking place according to different consciousness. And the highest perfectional consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When we come to the point of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our life becomes perfect.

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

The soul is there, but you cannot see it by material instrument. It is very fine. It is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of your hair. These are explained in the Vedic literature. So how you can find with your material eyes? You cannot see it. And because you cannot see it, you are concluding there is no soul. That is the ignorance. There is. There is soul, and this body has developed on the platform of that soul, and that soul is migrating from one body to another. That is called evolution. And that evolutional process is going on, 8,400,000's of species of life, aquatics, birds, beasts, plants, and so many species of life. And we have got now this developed consciousness, human form of life. We should properly utilize it. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, is very kind. As we desire, He gives us opportunity. Any kind of body, any kind of enjoyment we want, He gives us the opportunity: "All right, you take this body. And you wanted to enjoy like this. All right, you enjoy." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ. He is sitting in everyone's heart as the Supersoul, and even if we forget, He reminds: "My dear living entity, you wanted to do this; now you do it." So this is the process going on. But unfortunately, there is no educational system throughout the whole world about the activities of the soul, how he is working in different evolutionary process, what is his ultimate goal of life, wherefrom he's coming, where he's gone, what is the relation. So many things, we have to know.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':

Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). Chanting means the cleansing the heart. The more you chant, your heart will be cleansed. We are now, because we are in this material world, we are passing through evolution of many different species of life, and here is a chance given by the nature, the human form of body, where we can stop the continual transmigration of the soul from one body to another and we can have our permanent situation, back to home, back to Godhead. This is a great science. But if you neglect it, that is suicidal policy.

City Hall Lecture -- Durban, October 7, 1975:

Everyone is taking care of this body. But Kṛṣṇa said, gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. The paṇḍitāḥ, one who is learned, he knows that he is not this body. He is soul. So our first business is to take care of the soul. And this is the opportunity, this human form of body. In the human form of body we can understand Bhagavad-gītā, not in the dog's body. That is not possible. So by evolution, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, from aquatics to trees, plants, then insects, then birds, then beast, then human being, then civilized human being... In this civilized form of human being, if we do not take this knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā personally given by the Lord Himself, then we are missing the point.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: Just like we say that kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. From the insect life the bird's life developed. That we see practically. One have becomes flies, butterflies. In the grass, worm becomes a butterfly. That is, there is evidence.

Śyāmasundara: But at that time were there only insects existing?

Prabhupāda: No. Everything was existing.

Karandhara: That's not evolution of the species, it's evolution of the soul through the existing species.

Prabhupāda: Transmigration from one body to another. The bodies are already existing.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Hayagrīva: This is Darwin. Darwin's conception of evolution rests on the contention that there is a real genetic change from generation to generation. In other words, Darwin rejects the platonic igos. Igos is the Greek for idea, type or essence. There is no human igos, human type or essence. There are no fixed species. This is in contradistinction to the platonic idea that the species exist in essence or, as Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, bījam, "I am the seed of all existences." Darwin would not recognize any bījam, or seed, particular type for any species. Rather, he sees shifting, evolving physical forms constantly changing.

Prabhupāda: The different forms are already there. Just like the form of monkeys also there, the form of man is also there, other animals, other birds, beasts. So he has no clear conception how the evolution is taking place, neither he has any idea about whose evolution. He simply takes account of the body. A body never evolves. It is the soul within the body—he evolves, transmigrates from one body to another. Just we see that a child becomes a boy. The..., if the child is dead, it no more evolves. So it is the soul that is concerned. The soul is within the body, and he desires and evolves. That is Vedic conception and that is life. For example, if a man is within an apartment, the man desires to change the apartment to another apartment, it does not mean that the apartment evolves, but the man desires a change, and he goes to different apartment. That is (indistinct). So Darwin has no such conception. He has described the idea of evolution from the Vedas in his own way.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: So there are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and the body is being evolved. The body is machine, and the individual soul desires and he gets a suitable body made by material nature under the order of God. This is Vedic idea, as it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). God is existing within the core of everyone's heart, and the individual soul is desiring something, and upon the order God he is given a machine made by material nature. So this is evolution, and even a man, although he is human form of body, he can again degenerate to animal form of body according to his desire.

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Hayagrīva: So the creative evolution must necessarily be the evolution of the soul.

Prabhupāda: No.

Hayagrīva: No.

Prabhupāda: Soul is eternal. Soul is ever-existing. There is no question of evolution or..., that it is according to the body. So long he is in the material existence and bodily concept of life, he is thinking that a better body is evolution and a lower body... But if his consciousness is changed, then there is no chance of changing, different bodies. He remains in his eternal body.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: So does the mind play any part in the evolutionary process? The mind?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Evolutionary process means... If evolution means to go higher, then from mind you come to intelligence. And if you go still higher, then you come to the platform of soul, spirit soul.

Śyāmasundara: Well, according to these men like Russell, the evolution of bodies, the changes from one body to another, those are simply physical.

Prabhupāda: That is nonsense. That is nonsense. That we have already discussed, that if evolution of bodies, then just like this Darwin says that some monkeys, eh? So where is the direct proof that a monkey body is changing to a human body? We say that there are different types of bodies always, just like different types of apartment. But the living entity, the soul, is transferring from one apartment to another just like we change. We are in this room, we may go to another room—but that room is already ready. But I am entering a certain type of apartment according to my means. If I can pay more rent, I can get very nice apartment. If I do not pay, I cannot pay, then that is not possible. Similarly, according to our karma, nature is offering us different apartments, and these apartments are already there, fixed up, 8,400,000 species of life. So as you make yourself fit, you enter accordingly.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: It seems like these two philosophers have two different viewpoints. The first one, Huxley, said man can take nature into his own hand and mold his own evolution.

Prabhupāda: That is nonsense.

Śyāmasundara: Whereas this philosopher thinks that we should just..., that the vital force is guiding everyone and creating its own evolution, that we should just drift in the course of things and the vital force will determine history or will determine our future.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Vital force will determine. That is somewhat...

Śyāmasundara: Without our doing, without anything of our doing.

Prabhupāda: No. Vital force must know how to make progress how to do it. Then he'll be... If he does not know how to do it, how it will be possible? Can you do anything? Suppose you are learning some mechanical business, can you do it without direction? You have to learn. You must get a teacher. So without teacher, that is not possible.

Śyāmasundara: Just like the seasons. If we just place ourselves in the seasons, they take us toward something, towards springtime.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But you cannot compare. The analogy is mistaken. The season is matter, material changes. But the evolution is not matter. There is spirit soul. He is making his evolution. So he has got independence. He can reject and accept.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: That nature is progressing. What about this idea that nature, or evolution, is progressing?

Prabhupāda: The same nonsense idea. Evolution is not progressing. Everything is there, but it is being manifested when the living soul takes shelter.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: These evolutionists, they consider... They don't think there is a soul. They think that the cow is an organism, and we are just more advanced organisms. So we have the right to slaughter the cow because we are more advanced.

Prabhupāda: Now, tiger is more advanced. He has the right to kill you. Why you say you are advanced? Why you ere claiming that you are advanced? When a tiger is there, he kills you and eats you. He is more advanced.

Śyāmasundara: He is more fit to survive.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Why do they not say like that?

Śyāmasundara: But we have developed high powered rifles to kill tigers.

Prabhupāda: Well, that is defense. So the tiger has also defense: claws and nails. So defense will be... When there is fight between man to man, does it mean because man is highly developed and he will not be killed? When there is fight between man to man there is chance of one being killed. So similarly, when there is fight between tiger and you, one being killed, what is your superiority? Simply nonsensical. Simply nonsensical.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: Is it not that because our real nature is perfect that we're always striving to become perfect again? Striving to reach that point again?

Prabhupāda: Yes, your nature is perfect. Perfect means you have got independence also. So you can perfectly misuse also, independence. That is perfect.

Śyāmasundara: But there is always that urge, even among the lower animals, to improve themselves, be promoted.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is being done by nature. That is evolution. Darwin has taken this idea from the Vedas, but he has no soul idea.

Śyāmasundara: But he mentions the point, what is that urge? Why do I want to improve? What is that urge that makes me want to...

Prabhupāda: It is not his urge. Nature is giving him the impetus.

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Prabhupāda: How some foolish person can think of animal has no soul? What is the reason? There is no very strong argument. The animals may be less intelligent. A child may be less intelligent than the father; that does not mean there is no soul. This gross and doggish mentality, animal mentality, is killing the human civilization. Now they have degraded so much that they think that the embryo has no soul. In this way man is being put into darker and darkest region of ignorance. Everyone has soul. That is real. We get it from Kṛṣṇa: sarva-yoniṣu. In different forms of life the soul is there, undoubtedly. That is real conception of soul. Evolution means he is evolving from one lower grade of body to another, higher grade of body, and in this way by evolution he comes to the human form of life. And in this human form of life he can understand the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā, that if he likes, he can surrender to the Supreme Lord and go back to home, back to Godhead, and if he does not, then he remains in this material world, undergoing the tribulations of the repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. Corporal body.

Philosophy Discussion on St. Augustine:

Hayagrīva: Augustine believes that the physical body comes first, and then the spiritual. "What is so in a natural body arises a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. But it is not the spiritual which comes first, but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, earthy. The second man is from heaven, heavenly. But the body which, by the life-giving spirit will become spiritual and immortal, will under no conditions be able to die." So that man must first come as a, as man, as a mortal, physical being first, in order to attain immortality.

Prabhupāda: Why man? Every living entity has a mortal body. So to enter into the mortal body, that is a kind of punishment. And then there is evolutionary process from lower grade of body to higher grade of body. That is quite reasonable, that every living entity or soul is part and parcel of God, but on account of some sinful activities or disobedience to God, as they believe Adam on account of disobedience to God they lost Paradise and came to this material world, similarly, the soul belongs to the Paradise, or heaven, or Kṛṣṇa, but somehow or other he falls down within this material world, and he gets first a body like Adam. But again, on account of his further, low-grade activities, he goes down, sometimes as human being or sometimes as more than human being—the demigod—and sometimes as animal, trees, plants. In this way he goes down, degradation, or goes up by elevation. But he is always aloof from the material body, but according to his desires and activity he gets different body. This is quite reasonable and confirmed by the Vedic literature. But his actual life is when he is freed from this material contamination, getting different bodies life after life.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Kenneth Keating, U.S. Ambassador to India -- October 14, 1972, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Just like I remember my childhood state, dress and condition, my youthful condition. So many things I remember. So although the body has changed—either you say it has grown or changed—I am the same. Therefore conclusion should be that after giving up this dress, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), I must have another body. This is the proof of immortality of the soul and transmigration from one body to another. Now, there are 8,400,000's of different dresses. There are 900,000 dresses within the water, then plants and trees, then insects, then birds. This is evolution of different dresses. The spirit soul is passing through different dresses.

Ambassador Keating: Both the human and the animals?

Prabhupāda: Just so. Spirit soul individual. He is passing through the evolutionary process. Evolutionary process means as he is desiring, nature is supplying a particular type of body.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the platform of transmigration from the human platform, so it works, either it can go down or it can go up.

Prabhupāda: No, transmigration (is) going on. They are coming automatically, animals, to the upper level of human form. But when you come to human form, if you don't cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you remain as cats and dog, then you become again cat and dog.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But the evolution stops when the spirit soul reaches the eternal abode in the spiritual...

Prabhupāda: Yes, when he is no more entangled by a material body.

Room Conversation with Dr. Christian Hauser, Psychiatrist -- September 10, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: Just like you have got the desire to purchase another dress, garment, nicer, but if you have no money, then how you can purchase? You have to purchase something inferior. So these different species of life is the evolution of the living soul according to his karma. That is Vedic instruction. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). So I am a living entity. If I want to go to better condition of life, then I'll have to pay for it. Better condition is there already. Not this inferior condition changes into that better condition. That is another thing. Just like the condition in moon planet is different from the condition of this earthly planet. That is already there. You have to transfer yourself from this planet to that planet. So that point is missing in Darwin's theory. He says that body is evolving. That is nonsense. The body is evolving, then why the monkey body is not producing a human body at the present moment?

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Śrīla Prabhupāda, during the progress of evolutionary process, suppose if the individual soul falls down from the human platform, the individual soul falls down from the human platform to some other lower species, but in the course of again evolutionary process, at some stage along the path he'll come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Is this...?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, that is the process. Evolution means to come to that end, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real evolution. If one misses the chance, then again falls down. But the natural progress is that.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But ultimately he will come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes, ultimately everyone will come to Kṛṣṇa. Not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but Kṛṣṇa. At the end of this world, devastation, they enter into the body of Kṛṣṇa. They remain there.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 6, 1974, Bombay:

Bhāgavata: Is there anything in the Vedic literature which supports Darwin's theory?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not Darwin's theory. Darwin's theory is no explanation that whose evolution? Evolution is of the soul. The soul is changing in different bodies, one body better than the other. That kind of evolution.

Morning Walk -- April 11, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So even the animals have no developed intelligence, that does not mean it has no soul. Yes. The evolution of different types of body means evolution of intelligence. Just like a flower, in the bud stage, the flower is there. But the fragrance or the beauty has not yet developed. So unless the things are there, how it can develop? Similarly, the soul is there in every living entity, but according to the development of the body, evolution of the body, the intelligence becomes manifest.

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: So the human life is especially meant for understanding God. That is the version of the Vedānta-sūtra, Vedānta philosophy. The Vedānta philosophy teaches, athāto brahma jijñāsā, "Now this human form of body, which is above the lower grades of forms..." There are 8,400,000 forms of body. The soul is transmigrating, evolution. But when we get this human form of body, our main business is to inquire about God. Athāto brahma jijñāsā.

Room Conversation with Mr. Tran-van-Kha, and President & Members of the Society of Buddhists in France -- June 15, 1974, Paris:

Pṛthu Putra: He says the evolution was already before, because in the vegetables is already this process of evolution of the soul.

Prabhupāda: Every living entity has soul. The body is just like the dress, just like you are sitting here under different dresses, but that does not mean we are different. That is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni. Find out this, vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya (BG 2.22).

Yogeśvara: Second Chapter.

Prabhupāda: You can take it. Vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya, navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 15, 1975, Mexico:

Prabhupāda: So the soul transmigrates to another body. That is the evolutionary process for anthropology, basic principle of anthropology. So in Darwin's theory there is no admission of the soul. Therefore it is imperfect. The soul transmigrates from one type of body to another type. And then there are 8,400,000 forms of body. So when we get this human form of body we get all intelligence. And we should utilize this intelligence how to stop this transmigration of the soul from one body to another.

Room Conversation with Journalist -- May 19, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: Now listen, there is the mistake in Darwin's theory also. He has no information that the evolution is taking place, of the body, by the desire of the soul. That he does not know. Just like sometimes people were happy and living in a small cottage. Now they are making big, big skyscraper building. So what is the difference? The cottage and this... The cottage is not becoming the skyscraper building but the man who was living in the cottage, by his desire the skyscraper building is coming. Similarly the evolution means the soul within the body desires a certain type of body and he gets it. Not that the monkey body has developed into human body.

But the soul within the monkey's body desired a human body, and he has got it. This is the process of evolution. The Darwin's theory, this knowledge is lacking. If he is thinking that the cottage has become big skyscraper building, that is not the fact. The owner of the cottage desired to have a skyscraper building, therefore he, from the cottage he transferred to the skyscraper building. It is due to the owners.

Radio Interview -- May 25, 1975, Fiji:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, there is no such department which deals with the transmigration of the soul. That is the defect of the modern civilization. So there is transmigration of the soul. By evolution, by transmigration of the soul, we have come to this human form of life. Now here we have to decide again. Because we are part and parcel of God, a small particle of the same quality... So God is fully independent. We have got also a little independence. So God does not interfere with our independence. Now here we have to decide which way again we shall go. We have come by the evolution, by nature's way. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Nature has brought us and given us a chance, whether we shall go to our original spiritual life or we shall remain in this material world by changing body one after another. That is to be decided. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is educating people that "Stop your so-called material advancement. You come again, back to home, back to Godhead."

Morning Walks -- June 18-19, 1975, Honolulu:

Paramahaṁsa: Dr. Wolfe? Is he missing the evolution?

Prabhupāda: He was speaking biological?

Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, I think he was not understanding it so well.

Prabhupāda: Means his understanding, that biological, not ours.

Paramahaṁsa: Yeah, he's thinking biological evolution instead of transmigration of the soul. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...go-kharaḥ. Anything evolving on the bodily concept of life, he remains an animal. That is the defect of the western philosophy. (break) ...philosophy, the dog's tail. He is always this way, material way.

Morning Walk -- July 12, 1975, Philadelphia:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...in the evolutionary cycle, the transmigration of the soul, we were inquiring whether there's any specific details in the Vedas about the step by step transmigration of the spirit, of the soul.

Prabhupāda: Yes. From the aquatics to the plants, and then insect, then bird, then beast, then human being.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then it's the same with the Darwin's Theory.

Prabhupāda: Darwin has taken from here, and he has tried to explain in a hodgepodge way so that he may get the credit, that's all.

Ravīndra-svarūpa: The plants have more consciousness, manifest consciousness, than aquatics?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Ravīndra-svarūpa: That plants and grass, they are more conscious than aquatics.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is also mentioned in the Bhāgavata, about different animals, how they are conscious, developed.

Morning Walk -- July 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Yadubara: ...that theory is correct, isn't it, in a sense, that the bodies are always changing? The bodies are always changing, so from the outward appearance it seems that the evolutionary theory is correct.

Prabhupāda: No, that is... We, accepting evolution. But their evolution is that there is no soul who is the proprietor of the body. That they do not know.

Yadubara: So there is no meaning to their theory then.

Prabhupāda: Because in beginning is mistaken. (break) ...your education from wrong platform, then whole thing is wrong. (break)...study means that "I am this dress," then do you study me properly? So that is their intelligence. They are studying, Darwin studying, this body and no knowledge of the proprietor of the body.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: The question is, now we want to argue that how is it possible, now you are claiming that life is coming from molecules? If you claim like that, then how is it possible that in the same species, let's say in the birds, that these qualities are spreading? Some birds we see behave like a little influenced by the modes of goodness, though it is mixed. Like swan, we are taking that example. But some are like eagle, very passionate, wants to kill small birds as their food, and on the other hand, birds like crows, they like just to be completely ignorant, or they like to survive in a dirty environment. Why? Is this possible just from the concept of molecular evolution? It's completely, it's failing. They have no explanation along those terms. So we thought to bring up these points, it will be very clear that this evolution is completely wrong. So we want to use that...

Prabhupāda: There is no question of evolution. It is already there. This is a wrong theory. The monkey is there, the man is there. The soul is going from monkey to man. It is not the evolution. Just like you have got apartment, ten rupees, five rupees, twenty rupees, thirty rupees, like that. Now, as you pay, "Come on, here." There is no question of evolution. It is already there. Jantur dehopapattaye. These dehas, these bodies, are already there. So immediately it develops a particular type of desire, "Yes, come here, sit down." First class, second class, third class, fourth class is already there. As you pay, "Yes, come here." It is not evolving; it is already there. He is transferred from one apartment to another. This has to be convinced. We don't find that monkey's body became a human body. That is not in the experience, anyone. The monkey is there, the human being is there. But the soul is going from monkey's body to human's body, or monkey's body to another body. That is by superior administration. Their theory is the body is evolving and some body is missing. Nothing is missing. Every body is there. The soul is being transferred from one body to another.

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Hari-śauri: They think that transmigration only applies to human beings. Or in fact they don't even accept transmigration. They think that you've just got one lifetime.

Prabhupāda: Why? Transmigration for everyone. The Darwin's theory, evolution, it is like that, transmigration. The living soul is changing bodies, that's a fact. We can experience in our own life. The child is changing body to boyhood. The boy is changing his body to youthhood. So therefore it's a fact. The living entity is there within the body, and the body is changed. This simple truth they cannot understand. When a child grows up to become a boy, so what is the change? The change is body. But everyone knows the same child has become boy. Is it not?

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: The skin and bone will continue so long I am in the material condition of life. Either bird's skin... Just like who was talking of evolution, who was? This disease of skin and bone will continue. Because the spirit soul is not the bone and skin. The Darwin's theory, he is putting that the bone is changing. The bone is not changing. You get different bones in different life. I am changing my position. I am going from one apartment to another apartment. The apartment not changing. I am changing apartment. That is the difference between Darwin's theory and our theory. They are thinking the apartment is becoming another apartment. No. The apartments are already there. I am entering different apartments as I can pay for it. That is karma. According to my karma, I am sometimes residing in one apartment, in another apartment. This is going on. The Darwin's theory, the apartment is changing. That's not the fact. Fact is I am living entity. Tathā dehān..., Kṛṣṇa also says tathā dehāntara. Apartment antara. The spirit soul is the same. There is no change. That is spirit always. But according to his karma, he is going from this apartment, or this body, tathā dehān... That is the main point with the modern science and our Vedic knowledge. That is the main difference.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 24, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Who was your ancestor? (laughter) Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-vimśati. There is chronological order followed: first of all aquatics, then trees and plants, then insects, then reptiles, and in this way, then birds, then beasts, then human being. Which way? This? No.

Bhāgavata: If you want to go out, this way. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...it from Padma Purāṇa, and he has explained in his own imagination. The idea has been taken from Padma Purāṇa because the Padma Purāṇa, it is already there, evolution. Asatiṁ caturaṁś caiva. Eighty-four lakṣa means hundred thousand, 8,400,000. That is also given. Where is that, that Darwin's theory?

Bhāgavata: They have no number of species.

Prabhupāda: Imperfect idea. He wanted to credit himself. He has stolen the idea from Padma Purāṇa and wanted to explain in his own way, imagination, speculation.

Bhāgavata: The actual evolution is that the soul goes...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Correspondence

1975 Correspondence

Letter to Dr. W.H. Wolf-Rottkay -- Honolulu 8 June, 1975:

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated June 1, 1975 along with your elaboration of the word LIFE. It is very interesting. Regarding your question at the end, yes, the soul is eternal and it is transmigrating from one body to another. Therefore the body is undergoing evolution, not the soul. Just like if I come to the USA from India, I have to change my residence. I personally do not have to change, but my residence changes. So, the soul travels from one body to another and always remains the same. I shall be looking forward to your elaboration of the word MATTER.

Letter to Dr. W.H. Wolf-Rottkay -- Honolulu 18 June, 1975:

Biological evolution is taking place on account of the soul's desire. It takes place because of infection. If a man has smallpox virus, then he is subjected to smallpox. It is not that everyone is infected and everyone is attacked with smallpox disease. Only the person who is infected, he is attacked.

Page Title:Evolution and the soul
Compiler:Labangalatika
Created:21 of Jun, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=8, CC=0, OB=3, Lec=38, Con=18, Let=2
No. of Quotes:69